The KJV Holy Bible

 

Genesis Chapter Thirty Two

 

1 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

2 And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:

5 And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.

6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;

8 And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.

9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:

10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.

11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.

12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

13 And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;

14 Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,

15 Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals.

16 And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.

17 And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee?

18 Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us.

19 And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him.

20 And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.

21 So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.

22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.

23 And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.

24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.

30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.

32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.

 

 

Esoteric Interpretation & Commentary

 

The Hermetic Blueprint of Genesis: Wrestling the Divine and the Transmutation of the Ego"

Genesis Chapter Thirty-Two contains one of the most Profound Allegories of Spiritual Initiation and Internal Transmutation in all of Esoteric literature. Having severed ties with the external material matrix (Laban), the Evolving Mind (Jacob) must now face its final and greatest terror: reintegrating with the repressed lower physical nature (Esau). Before this physical reunion can happen, the Adept must undergo the Ultimate Internal Crucible. Stripped of all earthly possessions and isolated in the dark Night of the Soul, the Mind wrestles directly with its own Higher Self (the Angel). This chapter details the agonizing, glorious process of the ego Submitting to the Divine, resulting in a Completely New Frequency of Consciousness: Israel."

 

 

Verses 1-2: The Dual Hosts of Mahanaim - "And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him... and he called the name of that place Mahanaim." 

As Jacob moves toward his destiny, he is met by the angels of God. He calls the place Mahanaim, meaning "Two Camps" or "Two Hosts." Esoterically, this represents the Conscious Alignment of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm. The Adept Realizes that for every physical action taking place on the earthly plane (his camp), there is a corresponding, simultaneous action occurring on the Spiritual Plane (the angelic camp). He is perfectly suspended between the world of Spirit and the world of Matter.

 

 

Verses 3-21: The Tribute to the Flesh and Pacifying the Lower Nature - "And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother... I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight." 

Jacob knows he must pass through the territory of Esau (the base, unrefined physical/animal nature). To do so safely, he orchestrates a massive tribute, sending waves of cattle, camels, and flocks ahead of him as a gift. In Alchemical terms, the Highly Developed Intellect cannot simply crush or ignore the physical body; it must pacify and honor it. The physical form requires its specific Energetic Sustenance. By voluntarily paying this "Karmic debt" to the lower nature, the Mind ensures that the dense physical ego is appeased and will not destroy the Incoming Spiritual Light.

 

 

Verses 22-24: The Crossing of Jabbok and Absolute Isolation - "And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok... And Jacob was left alone;" 

The river Jabbok represents the final boundary between the old state of being and the new. Jacob sends everything he has acquired—his wives, his children, all his wealth—across the river, leaving himself entirely alone in the darkness. This is the esoteric "Dark Night of the Soul." To achieve Ultimate Illumination, the Adept must strip away all external identities, attachments, faculties, and material safety nets. The Core Essence of the Mind must stand utterly naked before the Infinite.

 

 

Verses 24-29: The Alchemical Struggle and the Change of Name - "And there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day... And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." 

In absolute isolation, Jacob wrestles with a "man" (the Angel, the Higher Self, the pure Divine Spark) until dawn. This is the violent, internal friction of initiation—the stubborn, calculating ego fiercely resisting its own dissolution into the Divine Will. Jacob refuses to let go until he receives a blessing. The breakthrough occurs at the "breaking of the day" (Illumination). His name is changed from Jacob (the supplanter, the calculating Mind) to Israel (he who rules with God). The localized intellect has finally been permanently transmuted into a Vehicle of Pure Divine Consciousness.

 

 

Verses 30-32: Peniel and the Crippling of the Lower Will - "And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved... and he halted upon his thigh." 

During the struggle, the Angel touches the hollow of Jacob's thigh, instantly putting it out of joint. As we saw with Abraham's oath in Chapter 24, the thigh represents the seat of the lower, animal, and physical generative Forces. By crippling the thigh, the Divine Spark permanently disables the ego's ability to act on base physical will. From this moment on, Israel will "halt" or limp—meaning his physical, worldly movements are forever subjugated to his Spiritual Realizations. He names the place Peniel (the Face of God), corresponding perfectly to the pineal gland, the physical seat of Spiritual Vision and the opening of the Third Eye.